Posted on 07/16/2007 2:18:45 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
The Chinese government has been accused of attempting to cover up nearly three quarters of a million deaths caused by rampant pollution.
Chinese officials reportedly tried to censor a World Bank document that found filthy air and water prematurely kill 750,000 people every year in China.
One woman told Sky News that people in her village are paying for the pollution with their lives.
Wei Dongying took us down the Qiantang River in a tiny fishing at night, as flashes of lightning lit up the huge expanse of water.
An overpowering stench of chemicals and a thick slick of foam meant we were on course.
The industrial plants on the shoreline discharge their illegal waste - secretly - at night. And this was the only way to prove that this illegal activity was still continuing.
Wei Dongying has known these waters since childhood. Fisherwoman turned environmentalist, she has been watching the destruction of the river in the Yangtze Delta for the last four years.
"There it is," she said, pointing to a frothy, bubbling, stinking brew of industrial sewage breaking to the surface from a release pipe below.
"It's like this every night. Sometimes the foam is black, sometimes yellow or red."
She collects samples of the polluted water - but she knows it is evidence that will continue to be ignored.
The polluting powerhouses and workshops along the banks of the Yangzte River Delta are clogging its arteries.
Rivers - once filled with freshwater fish - are silted with a lethal sludge, a thick viscous cocktail of raw waste and industrial chemicals.
And the town of Wuli, surrounded by back-to-back chemical factories, lies smack in the middle of it.
This is where Wei lives. Four years ago she was diagnosed with cancer. Then the fish began to die. To Wei the link was clear.
Now she has been threatened by local officials for daring to speak out.
"I'm frightened of them, but I'm more frightened that our children and grandchildren will be sick and will never see green hills and clear water," she said.
For others in the village her warnings have come too late.
Mr Zhu, a local shopkeeper, told me his wife died of cancer three months ago. She was just 49.
He said: "I blame the chemical factories and the government for doing nothing about the pollution.
"When I miss my wife I look at her photograph. But there is nothing I can do about what happened."
But in China it's not enough to live in this toxic environment. Here you face arrest if you speak out against it.
Xu Xie Hua's husband, a well known environmentalist, was taken away by police when they they broke into their home at night.
"I haven't seen him for two months - not since they took him away," Mrs Xu said.
"I miss him. His shadow is everywhere. All I can do is fight to clear his name."
She knows that won't be easy. Now plainclothes police sit in her garden round the clock, watching her.
Fear and intimidation are the price you pay for daring to raise your voice against the destruction of China's environment.
Oh, we all know it’s just racism by Western White Men that is causing both the deaths and blaming the Chinese for the pollution.
Ah, the joys of Socialism!
Isn’t China the country that Al Gore wants us to emulate in terms of environmental leadership?
Check out the headwaters of the Columbia River sometime.
How horribly, terribly sad.
Three quarters of a million? That's all?
Looking at those pictures, it's a wonder that anyone is left alive....
Any food and healthcare products manufactured in China contain a good amount of water. I wonder what magical clean supply of water they use for that base.
How disgusting. Welcome to just another day in the communist neighborhood. People animals and the land be damned, the state marches on. They are all just donators to the cause.
In Shanghai on a cloudless day the shadows are but a vague outline, because the pollution is so heavy light is dispersed in all directions. Though I certainly don’t recommend it, you can look directly at the sun there without squinting.
It’s the country to which Algore wants to give away ‘carbon credits’ (Kyoto) since they are an ‘underdeveloped’ nation.
I blame it as much on Chinese corruption as communism, but then the communists are probably the most likely Chinese to abuse their power for personal gain.
It’s all OK. China bought lots of poisened people offsets.
Just another reason to thank God that I live in the US, all it’s problems and corruption notwithstanding....
Thanks for the (two) pings! lol!!
Oh
My
Gosh!
As I sit here and look at the lovely Pennsylvania hills and the crystal clear spring next to my house, I can’t believe that the US is held up as a major polluter, while this disgusting type of stuff is going on in China! And how much of those chemicals are ending up in the food they send over here? I feel bad for the poor people who have to live with this, every day, over there.
Yet this is where so much of our food comes from—this filthy polluted country.
Sorry! Ping hiccup!
Hey, lets open up with China, we can poison US citizens and rid ourselves of human capital. We tried it on cats, dogs, and gerbils, we know it will work on the folks.
Holding hands with China, experts in ridding themselves of too much human capital. /s
Pretty hypocritical of the media and leftists.
But then, lying to promote their agenda is nothing new.
Too bad the America hating media won’t ever show this stuff. I’m glad to be part of FR for this reason; at least you can find out stuff you’d never know otherwise.
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